Where do fishing worms come from? Well, when a mommy worm and a daddy worm love each other very much… just kidding, worms are hermaphrodites. They do, however, mate with one another and produce cocoons ready to hatch lots of little baby worms.
Fishing with worms is just plain fun. It’s fun to find and dig up worms, it’s fun to watch them wiggle and slide around and it’s fun to catch some surprisingly nice fish with these funny little creatures. Fishing with worms has been around since the beginning, it’s a staple in American freshwater fishing. Let’s dive in and discover where worms come from!
Where Do Fishing Worms Come From?
Fishing worms come from the ground. They are found in moist soil heavy with organic matter. You can easily dig them up from a garden, farmland, empty lot, or even your backyard. You can also purchase these worms online or at your local bait shop.
What type of bait is as easy and cheap as using worms from your backyard? Seriously, forget the expensive lures with all their glamorous artificial bling when you have a state-of-the-art earthworm, plump and slimy, smelling like robust nature and freedom wiggling around right under your feet. This is real fishing, using nature’s gifts.
Earthworms, hence their name, are found living underground. Worms love moist environments. You’ve probably seen dead worms laying on the street after a big storm because they come to the surface during the rain.
A great way to find earthworms is to go look under something laying on the ground after it’s rained such as a piece of wood, rock, etc. You can also leave out a piece of cardboard overnight and in the morning check underneath and you will probably find some nightcrawlers! Even if it hasn’t rained the night before, morning dew, or a humid evening should produce some worms as well.
If you don’t want to get your hands dirty, worms are very accessible for purchase. Your local bait shop, Walmart, Ace hardware, and other shops around town have them. Or better yet, just purchase them online you can find them on amazon or Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm. When you purchase worms, you are typically getting worms that have traveled all the way from Canada! It is a surprisingly large market. People use them for gardening, feeding their pets, and fishing. They literally have worm farms where they harvest tens of thousands of worms year-round. They get all packaged up and shipped all over Canada and the U.S.
Like I stated at the beginning of the article, worms are hermaphrodites, meaning they have both male and female reproductive organs. However, they can not reproduce alone. Once they reach about 90 days old they are able to mate with another worm. They come together and secrete mucus, form a cocoon, lay eggs, fertilize them, and 11 weeks later baby worms are born.
What Kind of Worms Are Used For Fishing Bait?
Nightcrawlers (a type of earthworm), Mealworms, and Redworms (another type of earthworm) are all used for fishing. Nightcrawlers are the most common worm used for freshwater fishing.
Large and smallmouth bass love these worms and rarely will pass up an opportunity to chow down. Many other freshwater fish enjoy these worms as well. Trout can be skittish and prefer smaller worms like Mealworms or Redworms. Mealworms are also a great choice for Perch. Bluegills and crappie are generally most interested in Redworms. Redworms are quite a bit smaller than nightcrawlers so if you are targeting small fish, regardless of the species, a nightcrawler might be too big and a redworm would be your best bet.
Is It Cruel To Use Fishing Worms For Bait?
Fishing worms do feel pain, so on some level using worms as bait is cruel because stabbing a hook through them and sacrificing them to predator fish is probably painful.
Worms have brains, nervous systems and feel negative stimuli. However, they do not feel and experience to the extent that we do. Worms are at the bottom of the food chain, they are often eaten by birds, toads, rats and other predators. I don’t think we will ever be able to understand what it is like to be a worm, so it is up to you to decide if it’s cruel to use fishing worms as bait.
What Do Fishing Worms Eat?
Fishing worms eat organic matter. Anything that was once living and is now decaying or dead, is a hearty nutrient-filled meal for a plump worm! Eggshells for breakfast, decaying banana peel for lunch, and steamy cow dung for dinner.